Monday, April 19, 2010

What you need to know about page composition for your book


So, you have put in a lot of hard work on the manuscript, and all you have to do now is get your book printed. Though you can always hire a good pre-press company in India that does all pre-publishing jobs like typesetting, page layout, and the like, it still pays to know the ins and outs of the process.
Page composition involves the following steps:
1. Have your book edited and proofread by professional editors. This is not strictly a part of the page composition process, but you need to get over with this step before you start the pre-press work. Because once the text is laid out and page numbers fixed, if you have to go back and make significant changes in the text or images used in the book, it is going to cost you more time and money.
2. Zeroing in on elements of page design like font type and size, page formatting standards, and cover design. These impact the readability of the book in a big way and can make all the difference between looking professional and elegant or haphazard and amateurish. For instance, for a children’s book, cartoonish fonts in large type may be fine, but for an academic book, easy-to-read serif fonts with neatly laid out graphs and charts will appeal to readers better. You will need to have detailed discussions with your graphic designer and page composition professional to iron out these things at the beginning of the pagesetting process. Feel free to ask for font types that you think will suit the subject of your book better and different page design options.
3. Have relevant and interesting images or info graphics interspersed throughout the book. It helps in giving visual relief. Of course, if yours is a fiction book, this tip may not be entirely applicable.
4. Have it proofread again after the text is laid out. Specify to your design team what page layout software you want the book composition done in. Also, tell them whether you will have the final round of proofreading done on the raw file or on an editable PDF version. Proofreading at this page is done to remove any errors that could have crept in last-minute like double spaces, wrong page numbers, or inconsistencies in formatting.
5. Make sure everything fits into your budget. Affordable page composition in India can be a feasible option, too, for publishers who may be on a tight budget. But take care to not select someone offering the lowest price among the Indian pre-press vendors.
Professional page layout and typesetting is mandatory if you want your book to look authoritative and appealing. Your book often has less than 10 seconds to impress the potential buyer, so make sure they count.
visit us at http://www.equiretech.com

No comments:

Post a Comment